Speech recognition systems have become embedded in many technological fields and much of daily life. For example, smart phones, personal computers, and automobile navigation systems are capable of recognizing and responding to voice commands. With advances in long-distance travel and communications, the degree to which diverse languages are intersecting is growing rapidly. Language recognition systems, which recognize a user's spoken or written language and respond accordingly, are therefore becoming increasingly important to provide quick and efficient access to information in multiple languages.
Language recognition systems are useful in airports, train stations, and other public venues where lingual diversity is high. At these venues, many approaches to language recognition and multilingual information delivery tend to involve single-user interactions with an information kiosk, telephonic information system, or other information terminal. Single-user systems may be capable of recognizing a single user's spoken language and responding accordingly, but a system for identifying the lingual composition of a large number of users and delivering information in multiple languages, such as by public announcement, would also be useful.
Multilingual public announcement methods at the above-mentioned public venues typically consist of aural or visual announcements in a primary language, followed by the same announcement in one or more secondary languages. The languages chosen for the announcements, and the order in which they are delivered, are typically preconfigured. For example, the primary language for an audio announcement at an international airport terminal may be the national language, the second language may be English, and the final language may be the regional language. Consequently, if the announcement is lengthy or must be repeated in several languages, travelers who only understand one of the secondary languages might wait a considerable amount of time to receive the information in their native languages, if at all. Because of the static nature of these announcement methods, announcements might also unnecessarily be delivered in multiple languages when at that moment the public audience speaks only a single language.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.